1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for effecting simulation and three-dimensional display of transportation of flexible mediums in a system for transporting sheet-like flexible mediums (hereinafter referred to as “flexible mediums”), such as paper, paper money, bankbooks, postcards, tickets, various types of cards, and photographic films, as well as to a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a flexible medium transport simulation program for implementing the apparatus and method. Specific systems which would be subjects of simulation according to the present invention include printers, copiers, and facsimiles, which transport paper as a flexible medium, and ATM (Automatic Teller Machines) for transporting paper money and bankbooks as flexible mediums.
2) Description of the Related Art
The following two techniques have hitherto been employed for simulating transportation of the above-described flexible mediums in a transport system.
One is a technique (i.e., a simulation apparatus for use with a paper feed transport control sequence) described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 309665/1997 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,596). According to this technique, information about travel of paper, which is a flexible medium (i.e., information about a paper transport path), is set beforehand. The paper is expressed through use of both ends of the paper and the length thereof, and travel of the paper is computed and displayed.
The other technique is known as a simulator (e.g., structural analysis software), such as a Dynamic Analysis and Design System (DADS) (produced by Cybernet Inc.). The simulator performs precise dynamic computation of travel of a flexible medium, thereby effecting three-dimensional analysis and display of transportation of a flexible medium.
At the time of development of a control program (firmware) for use with an apparatus having a mechanism of transporting flexible medium, such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, or an ATM, or at the time of review of transportation of a flexible medium in such an apparatus, a person in charge of program development or review desires to thoroughly perceive transportation of a flexible medium by means of viewing transportation which is simulated and is three-dimensionally displayed on a display.
For instance, at the time of development of a control program, there is a desire for simulating transportation of a flexible medium in real time in conjunction with the control program and verifying the control program while visually ascertaining transportation of a flexible medium.
In order to review the result of design of the apparatus, there is a desire for simulating transportation of a flexible medium in real time in response to a transport instruction issued on the spot and for ability to display transportation as three-dimensional animated images.
In contrast to these desires, the former technique fails to take into consideration information about the width of a paper sheet (flexible medium) and fails to take into consideration information about the motion (being set in advance) of the paper sheet in the depthwise direction with respect the transport direction. Naturally, a difference in the width, or the depth in the motion, of paper sheets or disposition of the paper sheets in a depthwise direction, cannot be displayed. In other words, transportation of a paper sheet cannot be displayed three-dimensionally on a display. A person in charge of program development or review fails to view transportation of paper three-dimensionally and becomes unable to thoroughly perceive transportation.
The latter technique involves precise dynamic computation, and hence analysis of transportation requires a great deal of time, which in turn hinders real-time simulation of transportation of a flexible medium. Accordingly, there has hitherto been a problem of incapability of effecting transportation in conjunction with a control program or effecting real-time, three-dimensional display of transportation in accordance with a transport instruction.